Head of Legal

Bioptimus is building the first universal AI foundation model for biology to fuel breakthrough discoveries and accelerate innovation in biomedicine. With more than $75M in funding, Bioptimus is a fast-growing start-up headquartered in Paris, incorporated in October 2023. Backed by leading international venture capitalists, our world-class team of scientists and engineers is redefining the frontiers of AI and life sciences. 

The Opportunity

We are seeking an exceptional, business-minded legal leader to join us as our first in-house lawyer. As our Head of Legal, you will be a key member and a core strategic partner to the COO. You will be empowered to build a world-class legal function, which includes leveraging top-tier external counsel and, over time, building a lean and effective in-house team. This is a unique opportunity to build a global legal function from the ground up at one of Europe's most ambitious biotech ventures.

What You'll Be Doing

As our Head of Legal, you will have ownership over the following strategic domains:

• Corporate & Securities:
  • Lead all corporate legal matters for our French parent company and US operations.
  • Manage corporate governance, board processes, entity maintenance, and cap table administration.
  • Provide lead legal support for all fundraising activities and investor relations.
• Commercial & Intellectual Property Strategy:
  • Draft, negotiate, and advise on a wide range of high-value agreements, including complex data acquisition partnerships, technology licensing (inbound and outbound), SaaS agreements, and strategic collaborations with leading pharmaceutical and biotech companies.
  • In partnership with leadership, develop and execute a comprehensive global IP strategy to protect our core assets, including our AI models, software, and proprietary biological data.
  • Manage our patent, trade secret, and copyright portfolios.
• Data Compliance & Governance:
  
  • Guide the design of and oversee Bioptimus's data compliance framework across all relevant domains.
  • Structure complex agreements for the ownership, acquisition, licensing, and sharing of medical and biological data internationally.
  • Develop and implement a global data governance framework that balances regulatory risk (GDPR, HDS, HIPAA) with the needs of our research and product teams
• Operations & Employment:
  • Manage all external counsel relationships and budget.
  • Build the legal function's infrastructure, including contract management systems, templates, and internal policies.
  • Act as the primary legal advisor for all employment-related matters in France and the US, working closely with HR and external advisors.
  • Develop and maintain employment policies, contracts, and equity compensation plans.
• Product Strategy Integration:
  • Serve as a key legal partner to our R&D and product teams.
  • Translate complex regulatory requirements (e.g., EU AI Act, GDPR) into actionable product design and engineering specifications.

What You'll Bring

The successful candidate will be a proactive, strategic, and exceptionally versatile lawyer, comfortable operating with a high degree of autonomy and ambiguity. You are a builder and a business partner who thrives on tackling complex, first-of-their-kind legal challenges.

• Legal Experience:
  • At least 8-12 years of post-qualification legal experience.
  • A background at a top-tier international law firm, significant in-house experience as a senior legal counsel, or General Counsel in a venture-backed technology company.
  • Deep, demonstrable experience managing legal and regulatory matters across both US and French/EU jurisdictions is a mandatory requirement for this role.
• Industry Expertise:
  • Proven domain expertise at the intersection of technology and life sciences.
  • Strategic experience with the legal frameworks governing medical data across jurisdictions, including structuring complex data acquisition and licensing agreements
  • Specific, hands-on experience in at least two of the following areas is essential: Artificial Intelligence (AI), life sciences/biotechnology, or health data regulation (GDPR/HDS, HIPAA).
• Corporate & Fundraising Savvy:
  • Exceptional ability to advise senior leadership with clarity, confidence, and sound judgment.
  • Extensive experience supporting executive teams and boards on corporate governance, entity management, and the full lifecycle of venture capital financing.
• Languages: Full professional fluency in both English and French is required for this role.

How to Stand Out:

• You have a genuine and demonstrable passion for enabling innovation at the intersection of science, data, and technology.
• You have direct experience interacting with relevant data protection authorities or health regulators on complex compliance matters.
• You have previously been the first legal hire in a high-growth company, having successfully built the legal function, processes, and systems from scratch.
• You have proven track record working with US jurisdiction and in France, and an existing network of external legal advisors and specialists in both the US and Europe.
• You have experience providing legal guidance on privacy-enhancing technologies (PETs) such as federated learning, or navigating the complex legal issues of data anonymization for AI model training.

Why This is a Unique Opportunity

• Reporting to the COO, you will have the autonomy and resources to design the function from the ground up, shaping the company's approach to risk, governance, and corporate strategy.
• In addition to a competitive compensation package, you will have a meaningful stake in the company's future, ensuring your contributions are directly aligned with our long-term value and success.
• This role offers unique opportunities to manage cross-border transactions, including travelling between our Paris and future US offices.
• Advise on precedent-setting legal questions at the absolute frontier of AI, data privacy, and biotechnology.

We believe that the unique contributions of all Bioptimists create our success. To ensure that our culture continues to incorporate everyone’s perspectives and experience, we never discriminate based on race, religion, national origin, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, age, or marital, or disability status. Decisions related to hiring are made fairly, and we provide equal employment opportunities to all qualified candidates. We take responsibility for always striving to create an inclusive environment that makes every employee and candidate feel welcome.